What Happened to Santiago Cisneros III

A man fatally wounded by Portland police after they say he fired at them was an Iraq war veteran who had talked about the challenges of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Santiago A. Cisneros III, 32, died of the wounds he received Monday night, the Multnomah County medical examiner’s office said.

Two officers said the man had a shotgun and fired at them when they encountered him on a parking lot roof in northeast Portland. They said they returned fire.

Cisneros died at a Portland hospital. No officers were injured.

Police haven’t said how many shots were fired. Detectives continued to collect evidence Tuesday in Portland’s second officer-involved fatal shooting of the year.

Both officers who fired will remain on paid administrative leave until the completion of a grand jury inquiry.

The officers weren’t dispatched to the garage, but police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson declined to say why they went there. Other officers told The Oregonian that’s a popular spot for police to go “car-to-car,” when two patrol officers park their cars side-by-side to chat and monitor the streets between calls.

Cisneros was an Army combat veteran who was one of three soldiers who spoke to KOMO-TV in Seattle in 2009 about the struggles they faced with PTSD, the television station reported Tuesday. He said then he had tried to kill himself just eight months after leaving Iraq.

“I fought a war back there in Iraq. I didn’t know I was going to have to fight a war back here in the United States within myself,” Cisneros said in the KOMO interview.

He told KOMO he was diagnosed with the disorder and later sought treatment through the Veterans Administration.

Cisneros grew up in Idaho, had attended community colleges in Portland and Seattle, and most recently worked as a legal intern at a Seattle law firm, The Oregonian reported.

“We’re just trying to find out what happened,” Diego Cisneros, a brother, said of the man’s family.

“Santiago A. Cisneros III is an American war hero and veteran who served his country with pride,” the family said in a statement. “He is a beloved son, brother, uncle and friend. He is loved by many and he loved many.”

Cisneros joined the military after high school graduation despite objections from his parents, a family friend, Michael Heiser, told The Oregonian.

Heiser remembered him as a caring young man and guitar player who loved music in high school.

“We thought the world of him,” Heiser said. “He wasn’t pushy. He was concerned about other people’s feelings.”

Cisneros was different when he returned from overseas, the man said.

“I do know coming out of the service really messed him up,” Heiser said. “He had a hard time with post-traumatic stress and battled depression. He wasn’t the kid that I knew.”

Army vet shot by Portland police methodically took gun out of trunk and aimed at officers

The parking garage at NE 7th Avenue and Lloyd Blvd. where Santiago Cisneros was shot.

Two North Precinct cops were enjoying some down time from their Monday night patrol, chatting as they were parked car to car on the top level of an empty parking garage, when a dark BMW sedan pulled up behind one of their cruisers.No one got out. No move to seek help or ask for directions.Wondering what was up, the officers decided that one of the patrol cars would swing around and aim a spotlight at the mysterious car. That’s when Santiago A. Cisneros III stepped out of the driver’s side of his BMW.An officer got out to see what Cisneros wanted. Cisneros walked to the back of his car, lifted the trunk and pulled out a shotgun. He aimed it at the officers and ran after one, sources familiar with the investigation told The Oregonian on Wednesday.

Just before gunshots erupted, Cisneros had talked to his mother on his cellphone and told her he was going to kill some cops and then would be going to a better place, one of the sources said.

Cisneros, 32, fired multiple times at the officers, police said. The officers, seeking cover behind their patrol cars, fired back, killing him.Investigators are trying to piece together what drew Cisneros to the Northeast Portland parking garage late that night: Had he been following the patrol cars? Did he know they were parked on the upper story of the garage?

“It sure sounds like suicide by cop to me. It’s evident he wanted to die,” said John Violanti, an associate professor at SUNY University at Buffalo’s Department of Social and Preventive Medicine who served 23 years as a New York State Police trooper.

In this case, officers had no choice but to defend themselves, said Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI chief hostage negotiator and supervisor in the bureau’s Behavioral Science Unit during his 25-year career with the agency.

“Cops get ambushed all over this country. Cops don’t like cars coming up behind them and just sitting. Your professional paranoia knows that’s just not good,” Van Zandt said. “The hair would have been standing up on the back of my neck.”

Van Zandt said Cisneros must have known what would occur when he pointed the shotgun at police.

“Anybody who confronts a cop — especially someone with a military background — knows police have guns, they’re trained to use them. If you point and shoot at a cop, they will bring him down,” Van Zandt said.

Cisneros was a U.S. Army veteran who served from May 2002 through May 2005, and was a vehicle mechanic during Operation Iraqi Freedom. When he returned, family friends said he battled depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

In May 2009, he told a Seattle TV station that he tried to kill himself eight months after he returned from Iraq and finally found help through the Veterans Affairs administration and the National Center for PTSD.”I’ve started to build a foundation of hope and humanity again,” Cisneros told the TV reporter.

But Cisneros’ violent death suggests that post-traumatic stress can last a long time, even with treatment, said Belle Landau, executive director of Oregon’s Returning Veterans Project. The project connects veterans and their families to free counseling and health services.

Family friend Scott Isler of Portland said Cisneros would talk about his efforts to treat his stress and anxiety. Cisneros had shared a house with his sister in Portland about two years ago.

“He was an incredibly sweet and kind and gentle guy when he was on his meds,” Isler said. “When he was off his meds, he was different. He was very upfront about the fact he’s got these anxiety issues. He’d say, ‘I feel like something is burning up inside of me, and I want to scratch my skin to get it out of me.'”

Officer Daryl Turner, president of the Portland Police Association, noted after the shooting that officers face dangerous circumstances every day and called Monday’s confrontation a tragedy. It was the second time in 15 days that police shot and killed someone who threatened them without provocation.

“We are relieved that the two officers involved in the incident (Monday) night are safe,” Turner said.

Officers Bradley J. Kula, 38, and Michele Boer, 27, are on paid administrative leave and are expected to be interviewed today. The investigation will be presented to a Multnomah County grand jury for review.

Police haven’t said how many shots Cisneros fired or released other details.

Van Zandt said the confrontation ended with no winners.

“Here you have a situation where everybody is a victim,’ he said. “The man killed is a victim of life, post-traumatic stress. These two officers are victims of knowing this guy probably used them and did everything to provoke this kind of response, an officer’s worst nightmare.”

Law firm that employed Santiago Cisneros III, who was shot and killed by Portland police, issues statement

The Seattle law firm where Santiago A. Cisneros III had worked as a legal intern issued a statement Friday night in response to his fatal shooting Monday night by Portland police.

The partners, attorneys and staff of Chung, Malhas, Mantel and Robinson, said they wanted to convey their “heartfelt condolences and prayers” to Cisneros’ family.

“Santiago, or ‘Hago’ as he was known, will be sorely missed for his dedicated commitment to his work, his family and most of all to his country,” the law firm’s statement said.

“We are saddened to know that he lost his life back home at the hands of two uniformed police officers who shared a parallel duty of protecting and serving this great nation’s citizens.”

Police have said Cisneros confronted two Portland police officers atop a Northeast Portland parking garage with a shotgun about 10:45 p.m. Monday. Portland police said Cisneros fired the shotgun at officers, and they returned fire, killing him. The two officers involved were not hurt.

Cisneros, 32, was a U.S. Army veteran who struggled with post traumatic stress disorder and depression after his military service. He had served in the army from May 2002 to May 2005, and worked as a track vehicle mechanic in Iraq.

The law firm’s lawyers also expressed their appreciation for the day-to-day work that police officers do serving the public.

“We are thankful to God that the police officers involved in the unfortunate incident are safe and at home with their families; we know Santiago Cisneros would share in this sentiment,” the firm’s statement said.

The firm’s lawyers said they’ll await the outcome of the police investigation and a review by a Multnomah County grand jury. They asked the public to not render judgement on Cisnero’s character, state of mind or any culpability he may have had until the investigation is completed.

Mother of man killed by police was on the phone with son during the incident

The mother of a man fatally wounded by police in Portland said she was on the phone with her son when it happened.

Antoinette Cisneros told KING-TV in Seattle that her son spoke his final words to her and then she heard gunfire.

“I heard everything until the time he was killed,” said Antoinette Cisneros told the television station.

Police said Santiago A. Cisneros III, 32, had a shotgun and fired at them when they encountered him on a parking lot roof in northeast Portland on the night of March 4. Officers said they returned fire.

Cisneros died at a Portland hospital. No officers were injured.

He was an Iraq war veteran who had talked about the challenges of post-traumatic stress disorder. Cisneros lived in Seattle but was visiting family in Portland last week.

His mother said she called him late Monday night but didn’t know where he was at the time. She later learned he was driving up a Portland parking garage.

Moments later, he told her on the phone that he loved her and stepped out of the car, she said.

‘Forgive me, mom. I love you’: Santiago Cisneros’ last moments on phone with his mom

The mother of a Seattle man, who was shot and killed by Portland police last week, said Sunday that she was on the phone with her son throughout the entire shooting.

Santiago Cisneros III, 32, approached two police officers at a parking garage Monday night and started shooting at them, Portland police said. Officers returned fire and hit Cisneros, who later died at the hospital.

“I heard everything until the time he was killed,” said Antoinette Cisneros, Santiago’s mother.

Santiago Cisneros lived in Seattle but was visiting family in Portland last week.

His mother called him late Monday night but could not tell where he was at the time.

Portland Police said the entire incident unfolded very quickly after Santago Cisneros approached the two officers.

“Within seconds they’re confronted by this guy with a shotgun and shots were fired,” police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson said last week. “The officers returned fire and knocked him to the ground.”

Cisneros later died at the hospital.

As an Iraq war veteran, Cisneros admittedly suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). But his mother wants people to hold their judgment until an investigation is done.

For starters, she said that she knows what her son’s shotgun sounds like and she did not hear that sound over the phone Monday night.

She also said that her son was a good marksman. “If he aimed at something, he would not have missed.”

Antoinette Cisneros has not yet spoken with investigators to share what she heard on the phone that night. She hopes to speak with them soon.

“What I would like to see is that my son did not die in vain because of his experiences in the war,” she said.

The two officers involved in Monday’s shooting are on paid administrative leave until the completion of a grand jury inquiry.

The Department of Justice found last September that the Portland Police Bureau “engaged in an unconstitutional pattern or practice of excessive force against people with mental illness,” according to a news release.

The city and DOJ reached an agreement to address concern’s raised by the federal government’s investigation.